Kismet and Karma
by nowiamawas
Summary: What if Damon had introduced himself first? And what if he was seemingly as gentlemanly as Stephen?
1. Chapter 1

**Quick Note: I'm only going to say this once, here at the beginning: much to my dismay, I do NOT own anything related to TVD.  
>Also, after many weeks of lurking around, this is my first attempt at writing. Please offer any constructive criticism, just be tactful. Thanks!<strong>

Elena was sitting in the cemetery as she so often did these days, writing in her journal; this was where she felt closest to her parents and therefore, rather ironically, most alive. She had made it through her first day back at school - but just barely. And now she was gathering her thoughts and chronicling the experience. Walking the halls and seeing how cheery and normal everyone else seemed had left Elena feeling further alienated from her peers. It wasn't just the first day of the school year, but it was her first day back after tragically losing her parents in a car accident that she blamed herself for. Every single thing that she did day-to-day reminded her that her parents weren't there anymore; on the first day of school each year since kindergarten her mother had made her blueberry pancakes and her father had driven her to school, even well after she had her license. Waking up that morning to a PopTart and riding to school with her best friend, Bonnie, had made the reality that they were gone sink in once again.

Elena noted in her diary that she had seen, and shamefully avoided facing her former boyfriend Matt Donovan. He was her childhood best friend, turned high school sweetheart. Together they were crowned homecoming Prince and Princess once and voted Best Couple each of their first three years at Mystic Falls High. They had been the "it" couple, but soon after her parents died so did their relationship; just one more thing she had to mourn, even though she was the one who broke it off. It was pretty evident that Matt was still hurt, pain radiated from his eyes when they locked with hers, and as she turned back after she began walking in the other direction his face had fallen and he looked as if he could cry – right there in front of everyone. It broke her heart that she had broken his, but she just wasn't fit to be in a relationship. She couldn't love herself right now, much less anyone else.

She began to write about the new student that she and Bonnie had seen registering at the beginning of the day; he was tall, thin, and handsome with a wild and intense look about him. He had light brown hair and shining emerald eyes that kept catching her stealing glances across their History classroom at him. Unbeknownst to Elena those weren't the only eyes that saw her looking at him; Matt was watching her watch this new guy with a twinge of jealousy. As she wrote about the strange way that he had looked at her, as if she was the most curious thing he'd ever seen, a deep fog began rolling between the graves and surrounded her; along with the fog a sinister feeling of being watched swept over her. Elena grabbed her bag and stood, not sure anymore which direction the gate was in; she heard a crow cawing in the distance, her terror climaxed, and she began to run in the opposite direction. She began to run imploring to her internal compass that it not let her down now. Suddenly her foot smashed into a grave marker, causing her ankle to twist and splaying her onto the ground.

The searing pain in her foot added a new dimension of fear to the experience, and just as tears were about to start spilling over her lashes she felt a hand on her shoulder. Immediately she jerked away, and turned to face what she was sure was her attacker; she was met instead, by the most beautiful pair of impossibly blue eyes she had ever seen, and they were full of concern. "Are you okay?" asked the astonishingly attractive owner of those eyes. "I-I think so. I feel so stupid, first there was this fog and then I heard a bird; in my head it felt like a Hitchcock movie and…" she looked around, and there was no fog, it was as if it had never even been there at all. She laughed at herself "…and I sound like a crazy person, I'm sorry." She sucked in a deep breath and took in her rescuer; he had dark black hair that looked purposefully tousled, thick but dignified eyebrows perched atop the sapphire pools he had for eyes, and a perfectly chiseled jaw. "You're…" She breathed, "Damon. Salvatore." he finished, keeping her from saying 'beautiful,' much to her relief. "And you my damsel in distress?" he queried, "Elena Gilbert" she replied. "Well, Elena, how about I get you out of here and check you out?" Damon said with the tiniest hint of a smirk "It looks like you might have twisted or even sprained your ankle." "Oh," she replied "yeah, of course. It's really starting to throb now. I'm just glad I didn't get cut, I don't handle the sight of blood very well." "Yeah, me either." Damon drawled emphatically and then chuckled to himself.

He picked her up with little warning, causing her to squeal slightly, he smiled and carried her to his classic midnight blue Camaro parked just outside the gates. "I better give you a ride, just in case; I'll bring you back after I'm sure you can use that foot to drive." A voice in her head that sounded a lot like Bonnie was screaming "NO! Don't hop into a car with a stranger, are you crazy?" but this man didn't _feel _like a stranger to Elena. He shifted her in his arms so that he could open the car door, and he gently slid her onto the passenger seat. As they started down the road Elena began to think; she didn't know exactly what it was she felt, but certainly not fear; it was strange and powerful, it was almost as if she felt safe and _right_.

"Penny for your thoughts, Ms. Elena?" Damon asked as he turned onto a road heading to the outskirts of the town. "Uhh, 'where are we going?' comes to mind," she retorted. "To my house, of course" he quipped, which instead of frightening her, felt exhilarating. "So what were you doing in the cemetery?" she asked him. "Visiting" he replied with a sad tone, "my mother passed away years ago, but sometimes I like to stop in and catch her up on my life. Especially when things get crazy." "I'm sorry," she said, though it was barely a whisper "I lost my parents recently, and sometimes it's like it just hasn't sunken in yet." "It takes time" he agreed "but eventually things go back to normal. I promise." She couldn't help but smile, it felt like everyone she knew had assured her a hundred times over that it gets better, but this was the first time she actually believed it. After driving for what seemed like an incredibly long time he pulled up at an enormous old manor at the very edge of town that, according to local legend, was purportedly haunted or used by a satanic cult or something. "You live _here_?" she gaped. "This place is so eerie!" "Just how I like it," he joked "dark and mysterious; it keeps away unwanted guests and solicitors." He slid out of his seat and walked around to Elena's door "M'lady" he said as he bent down to help her stand, he slung her arm over his shoulder and held her around the waist for support. "Let's get you inside and fixed up, shall we?"


	2. Chapter 2

Elena followed Damon into his stately home, marveling at the countless antiques and works of art filling it, he led her to a chair in a large sitting room and sat down on the ottoman in front of her. "Do you live here alone?" she asked him as he took off her shoe and cradled her heel, inspecting her ankle closely. "No, my brother and I share the place; I don't always stay here, though." he explained to her. "Oh, are you just in town for a little while then?" her voice dripped with disappointment. "I don't know. I've been drifting around the globe for years now," he began to explained, "looking for a place to settle down. This town was my home, but it hasn't felt like it for quite some time." She wondered to herself how old he was, because the way he talked about travelling didn't give her the impression that it allowed much time for any kind of school, and it seemed like he'd been doing it for a while. "I'm going to go get you an aspirin and an ice pack to make the swelling go down," he told her as he walked out of the room.

He had only been out of the room for a few moments when the front door opened, and in walked the subject of Elena's diary entry, the new guy from her history class. His eyes widened in bewilderment and he stopped in his tracks, "Wh-what are you doing here?" he asked her. "I was at the cemetery, and I tripped, and uhh…" she faltered, feeling foolish. "And I rescued her," Damon boasted, walking up behind her and handing her an aspirin and a glass of water before placing the ice pack he'd promised gingerly on her ankle. "What are _you_ doing here?" the younger man replied. "Is that all you know how to say, little brother?" Damon ridiculed him, with a self-righteous grin. "I wasn't aware you'd come home is all," he answered coolly and turned to Elena, "I'm so sorry if I sounded rude, I was just shocked to walk in to an occupied house for a change. I'm Stefan, by the way." She smiled and extended her hand politely, "Elena Gilbert, we have history together, right?"

Damon's eyebrows shot up at that statement, and Stefan clearly enjoyed seeing his brother lose the upper hand. "Yes, we do. Along with English and French." Damon relaxed and walked over to a table housing a large bottle of amber liquor and several tumblers, "anyone else in need of a drink?" Elena and Stephen both declined, citing age, which made Damon laugh heartily for a moment. "So, Stef," he began "Elena and I were just discussing how I was considering coming back home for a while; who knows, maybe I could even settle back down in Mystic Falls." Elena noticed that Damon's declaration made Stefan's brow furrow and his eyes narrow. "Why now, after so long, brother?" he probed viciously. "Well, by now my bad reputation has probably faded," he winked "and in all my travels I've never met a lady as lovely as Ms. Elena here." Her face immediately flushed and she bit her bottom lip to keep herself from smiling broadly.

"Now that we know why you're thinking about staying" Stefan started ignoring Elena's obvious delight "why did you come back in the first place?" "The same reason you're here, I'm sure." Damon replied equably "but let's not talk about that right now." "That? Her, you mean" Stefan retorted fierily, "She isn't why I'm here though. I've moved on Damon, don't you think it's about time you did as well?" Something flashed in Damon's cerulean eyes and he replied in a low, throaty voice, almost akin to a growl "Don't lie to me, little brother, and don't _ever_ try to rattle me like that again." His words hung in the air, a threat so menacing that the grin dropped from Elena's face and Stefan looked from her face to Damon's smugly, "I'm sorry, Damon," his words oozing with derision, "it won't happen again."

"All right, Elena" Damon said, breaking the silence after gathering his composure "time to get you back to your car." She nodded and stood, shifting weight back and forth between her feet; she cast an awkward sideways glance at Stefan before looking down "it was very nice to meet you, I'll guess I'll see you at school tomorrow." "I'm looking forward to it." he replied quickly as she shuffled out of the door behind Damon. "That was… intense," she breathed as he was opening the car door for her, but he merely grunted in agreement. As they pulled away he finally sighed, and offered a terse explanation "We had a falling out years ago." "I gathered that" she apprised "and I also gathered that it was over a girl." Damon sneered, "She wasn't a girl, she was a depraved monster. She manipulated us, and pitted us against one another. We fought like animals for her attention, and her affection, which she doled out in abundance. To the both of us." Elena gasped as Damon continued his story, "Eventually we begged her to choose so that one of us could just get on with his life, but she wouldn't. She wanted to have her cake and eat it too. Neither of us could live like that, and so neither of us got her. We both cast the blame at one another; if only she could have just met one or the other…" he trailed off. "That's crazy!" Elena declared, "It was no more his fault than yours. Oh, Damon, she sounds absolutely terrible. How could you love someone like that?" "You can't choose who you love, Elena." He said wistfully, he chuckled and added, "Surely you've heard the phrase 'pretty girls make graves?' well that was coined just for Katherine."

The rest of the ride to the cemetery was quiet. Elena was afraid of saying the wrong thing, and Damon was lost in his thoughts. When they finally arrived at Elena's car she opened the door, grabbed her phone from the front seat, and groaned. "What's wrong?" Damon inquired. "My aunt, Jenna, has called like eight times. When I came home after school I told her I would only be gone for an hour, and it's been three. She's probably worried sick." Elena guiltily confessed, "Especially with the way my little brother has been acting lately." "I could take you home," Damon offered "and explain to her that it was all my fault." "I don't know" she hesitated "showing up with a strange guy would probably make the situation even worse." "Good point." He stated quickly as if he hadn't been very committed to the idea in the first place. He looked down at the ground for a moment before he spoke "Well, get home safely, Elena."

"That's it?" she asked without thinking, "you've been flattering me and flirting with me all afternoon and that's it? Wha- Oh, oh no. I totally misread that, didn't I? God, now I'm even more embarrassed than I was during my Hitchcock freak-out moment earlier." She turned quickly and grabbed for her car's door handle again, and like a flash his hand was atop hers. "No, you're right, I was flirting. I don't want that to be it, I just thought that what you saw between my brother and it probably didn't leave a good taste in your mouth." She took a sharp breath and said "To be honest, for a moment there you did kind of frighten me." He finally took his hand off of hers, "That is the last thing I wanted to do," he promised as he put his hand to her cheek and moved close to her "You should never be afraid of me I would never hurt you, or let anyone else for that matter." Elena looked up into his eyes and somehow she knew that he meant that completely, he would protect her no matter what.

Damon leaned in and gave her a light, sweet kiss on the cheek. "Let me make up for scaring you. Have dinner with me." Elena barely had to think before she agreed, "I'm free this weekend." "Well, not anymore" Damon stated matter-of-factly "let me put my number in your phone. What's the nicest restaurant in this dump town? That's where we're going." Damon's cockiness and obvious desire to please her made Elena smile. "I'd really rather go to the grill," she told him as she watched him program in his number "I hate getting all dressed up and trying to remember which fork to use." "Oh, okay. But I bet you clean up _really_ nice. That _was_ flirting, in case you're worried you're misreading anymore signals." Elena laughed, "I got that one, but thanks. I don't want to, but I seriously have to get home." she fake pouted. "It was so nice to meet you, Elena," Damon told her, as he opened her car door for her and gestured for her to get in "I can't wait to see you this weekend." She smiled up at him as she started her car, "Me either, I wish the school week was over already." "So do I, believe me." he muttered as he shut her door, she couldn't help but think that he wasn't just referring to their date but she shook it off and gave him a quick wave as she pulled away.

**AN: I've been struggling with whether or not I should introduce Stefan this early, and ultimately I (obviously) decided to just do it. I'm kind of just winging this - aka, I have nothing prepared in advance and no endgame. Feedback would be appreciated, should I throw in the triangle already or no? Also, thanks for all the favorites & alerts, I was NOT expecting that kind of response, you guys are all amazing, for real3**


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